


Deceiving as a Beast that Bites Back

by AmateurScribes



Series: Whumptober 2019 [16]
Category: Red vs. Blue
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Character Swap, Gen, Mental Instability, Mercenaries, Prompt Fic, Undertones of Possessive Behavior, Whumptober 2019, pinned down
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-16
Updated: 2019-10-16
Packaged: 2020-12-20 21:16:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,679
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21063320
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AmateurScribes/pseuds/AmateurScribes
Summary: Tucker learns pretty quickly that just because someone looks like a total pushover, doesn't mean that they are and that you should take them seriously.Especiallyif they're a mercenary.





	Deceiving as a Beast that Bites Back

**Author's Note:**

> There's three more planned stories for this merc!Reds AU! Tomorrow will be another one, and then the next two are later this month. This takes place after [The Burnt Bridge Holding Back a Damn](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20959106) and [Why Did Cupid Have to Paint Love Blind?](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21023399) but a little before [A Crack of a Whip Against His Back](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21049487) as they really happen near simultaneously. Just this time you get to see the New Republic side of things!
> 
> For the duration of this event, all mistakes are my own.

If there was one thing that Tucker could say for sure about Wombwell, it's that the guy is fucking crazy. 

It's funny how nothing had tipped him off to this when Wombwell had first introduced himself to him and the others. Tucker figured that he must have been very good at acting- the stern mercenary that had warned them about the Federal Army was nothing like the man that he had gotten to know in close corners.

For one, it wasn't very noticeable with all the armor on, but Wombwell was very thin and gangly. The dude was practically a  _ stick- _ the asshole even had the audacity to be tall as shit too. 

Now Tucker didn't want to brag- actually, who's he kidding, of course he would, to the right audience of course- but he was far more built than the mercenary. Fuck, sometimes he felt like a simple breeze would bowl the other man over.

And this somehow also lead into the next contradictory fact about the mercenary- he was a bit of a nerd.

Ok, he might not have any proof that the man liked anything that would be considered 'nerdy'- but just the way that the man looked and acted gave Tucker the distinct impression that he was shoved into a lot of lockers in the past. Hell, sometimes out of nowhere Tucker felt like he should be slamming books out of his hands and demanding he hand over his lunch money.

He was getting off track- the point he was trying to make was that the man didn't act like a stereotypical mercenary. If anything it felt like he should have been the tech support who stayed behind in hiding, giving off orders and directions and whatever else to the  _ actual _ mercenary.

It didn't help that the man was a  _ bit _ of a kissass- just a bit.

Wombwell always seemed prepared and available for  _ any _ task that Kimball needed him to do. It was like he was at her beck and call, and it'd be embarrassing if he  _ wasn't _ in Kimball's good graces. 

But as it stood, he was Kimball's right-hand man, and that was a fact that Tucker didn't think that was going to change any time soon.

These were all his  _ first _ impressions of Wombwell, just an overall feeling that the character didn't quite fit the role.

And then, he got to know the man a  _ little _ bit better.

What Tucker had thought as a convenience for Kimball to have Wombwell at hand seemingly  _ whenever _ she needed him, wasn't as it seemed. 

It's when he realizes that the man had an active camo unit that it kind of comes slamming into him that maybe the man was  _ skulking _ around  _ waiting _ for her to need him.

Becoming aware of that makes him wary of  _ all _ the moments where Wombwell was there for him or Kimball or any of the other captains, and how he never thought of it as a little  _ too _ coincidental.

And Wombwell didn't even employ his apparent sneaking abilities in missions. Doesn't even have more camo units to share with the rest of them. He focuses more on getting intel over anything else.

Maybe, if Wombwell had done things differently maybe the rest of Green Team would still be alive.

Or maybe he's just shifting the blame onto someone else. But that doesn't really matter because-

There's just something about the way that when you really get to know someone, you can hear certain inflections in their voices.

And it's because of this that Tucker gets the distinct feeling that Wombwell is just a second away from killing every single person in the New Republic base.

So it comes as no surprise when the man flat out tells him that he's only here for the money he makes selling the alien weaponry they come across.

When he realized this, a part of him was actually saddened.

Oh, he doesn't trust the man as far as he could throw him, but for a brief period of time he actually thought that maybe he could become- fuck if he knows, friends maybe?- with the mercenary.

Yeah, he knows that he ridicules the man internally about his nerdiness, but he wasn't too far off from liking the same things as the rest of the Reds and Blues. There's that part of Tucker again that tells him that Wombwell would fit in  _ perfectly. _

He learns better. He really does.

It was during the week of trying to pull one over him to get the green light on saving the others when Tucker gets to have a one to one with the man.

"Do you seriously have to make it difficult for us to take you down," he complained, watching as the other man stopped and looked at him.

"Of course," the man huffed. "What? You just  _ want _ me to let you guys kill yourselves because you're not ready? Don't be stupid."

"Come  _ on," _ he whined. "We're good- well, at least  _ I'm _ good- but you get my point! You know about our background, so why won't you just let us win?"

"Because that wouldn't be fun," Wombwell looks him in the eye.

"Fun?" Tucker repeats, face scrunching up. "Is this- what? Do you think that this is some sort of game? I know you're only in it for the money, but I'm actually  _ concerned _ about my-"

"About who? Your friends?" Wombwell's tone shifts and he becomes on edge. "Take it from me,  _ friends _ don't mean shit in the end."

"Damn, who hurt you," Tucker muttered. "Look, whichever asshole dumped you in the past isn't a reason to believe-"

He isn't able to finish the rest of his sentence when Wombwell tackles him, knife in hand as he does so.

They tumble to the ground, the mercenary on top of him, and despite the paper-thin nature of the man, he ended up on the top. He's pinned down, and he never expected this amount of strength that came from Wombwell.

There's a knife against his throat, and a hoarse voice informing him,  _ "Nobody _ dumped me."

Tucker's heart is pounding, and it's his instincts that cause him to activate his sword.

He can't see Wombwell's face, but he just knows that the other man is staring intensely at the bright blade.

"You know, you could make a pretty penny selling that," the mercenary points out. 

Swallowing the lump in his throat, he responds, "Can't, it only works for me."

"What I would kill to have a blade like that," Wombwell states, then he eases off of Tucker, not waiting to watch him get up before he's moving away from him. "A weapon that can't be turned against you."

"Yeah," Tucker states warily, getting off the ground, hand going to his shoulder where Wombwell's elbow had sharply into.

"But there's nothing a good ol' knife can't handle," he flips his blade and catches it, a move that Tucker's seen him practice often.

Tucker doesn't say anything in response, just watches as the man leaves.

"Good luck again tomorrow," Wombwell throws over his shoulder, and then he's gone, having disappeared around the corner.

"Jesus," Tucker breathes out as soon as he's out of sight. He wasn't quite sure what had happened, but he'd be an idiot to not realize the answer to the question he never really asked.

The reason behind Wombwell being a mercenary was that he was a fucking  _ lunatic. _

He just hid it really,  _ really _ well.

And he couldn't go to Kimball about what had happened- fuck, he had no doubts that she wouldn't believe him.

All that 'kissassing' really went a long way.

Wombwell held Kimball's favor and Tucker was just some asshole who tried leading a team and got nearly all of them killed.

So when he storms into their shared barracks, he ignores the questioning looks that he gets from Gates and Ortez, and just jumps into his bunk and pulls the cover over himself.

He hears Gates' snickering of,  _ "Someone _ must have tried to seduce the general...  _ again." _

"Can you just shut up for once," Ortez hissed, and it didn't take much for Tucker to imagine the green armored soldier scowling at his orange armored-  _ 'blood-orange' _ as the egomaniac insisted- teammate.

On the Blue side of the room- because they had subconsciously separated the room based on prior team bias in their mindlessness of the first few days at the base- he can see Caboose shift on his bed.

"Tucker?" he questions. "Is something wrong?"

He genuinely debates answering the other man, desperately wanting to stick his head underneath the pillow so that Caboose would get the memo.

But somehow he finds himself sitting up, catching the attention of the two Reds who were bickering on the side.

"I don't think we should trust Wombwell," he starts, tongue darting out to lick his dry lips. "And-" he hesitated for only a moment because this next thought was something he had only  _ just _ started to toy with. "I think we should go off on our own to find Wash and the others."

Ortez raised an eyebrow at him, leveling him a look as he stated in that annoyingly emotionless way that he tended to talk, "We'd be at a tactical disadvantage."

Shaking his head, he tried to figure out the right way to convey his concerns, but Gates manages to shoot in, "Well, when has that ever stopped us before?"

The two of them shared a look before Ortez sighed and looked back at Tucker, "You better at least have a plan."

"Well-" he started, and at the thunderous expression on the more militant Red's face, he continued, "I've got an idea."

"It's more than what we had before," Gates states. "Just trust him for once, Sam."

"Fine," Ortez concedes. "Continue."

Gearing up for what he knows will end, without a doubt, in criticism and yelling, he begins, "I have an idea that will play to our strengths as Reds and Blues, and it involves acting every bit as dumb as we actually are."

**Author's Note:**

> I didn't really get a chance to explore the changes to Felix and Locus in this universe- don't worry, I'll have a chance to later down the line- but essentially I took some of their more prominent traits and SIM Trooperified them. For Felix, I amped up his overconfidence in his abilities for a more egotistical approach without the skill to act upon it. Locus, I took his whole wanting to be a soldier thing and made it so that he's more of a stickler for procedures, and even though he's a SIM he's much more militant than the others, but, still a SIM nonetheless so he can't follow through with them half the time.
> 
> If you'd like to contact me you can find me at either of my Tumblr's: @agent-murica (main) and @amateurscribes (writing)!


End file.
